


Hero Set in Stone

by Elabeth



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: AU, Angst, Bucky was born in the modern era, M/M, Magical Realism, Romace, Steve was still born in the 1910s
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-07-08 10:59:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15929042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elabeth/pseuds/Elabeth
Summary: Bucky was born in the modern era and meets Steve in his dreams.Based on an artwork from tumblr, url in endnote.





	Hero Set in Stone

Bucky was six when he first started having dreams of Steve. Of a young boy, sickly and thin who would run about the streets of a long-gone Brooklyn. Bucky would dream of hacking coughs that lasted all winter. Of thin broth spooned into Steve’s mouth. 

Steve would always talk to Bucky in the dreams, but no one else would acknowledge him. Steve called Bucky his imaginary friend. 

Bucky thought this was hilarious. Steve was a figment of his dreams, not the other way around. 

***

When he was ten Bucky went looing for Steve, to find out if his friend was real. The building that stood where Steve’s did in the dream didn’t look the same. But it had an apartment with the right number on it, so Bucky run the bell. A Chinese family lived there. They were friendly, but they weren’t Steve.

***

At sixteen Bucky had long since stopped talking about Steve to anyone else. His sisters had informed him that it was weird when he talked about his dream friend. 

***

At seventeen Bucky told Steve that he loved him.

Steve smiled sadly and said he loved Bucky too.

They’d never been able to touch. 

***

At twenty, Bucky spent his entire break between semesters committing books to memory, so he could recite them at Steve’s sickbed during the night. 

***

At twenty-two Steve, little sickly Steve found a way to go to war. He got big and strong and healthy. Bucky worried about him even more than he ever had in the past.

***

Bucky started reading all he could about Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, during his waking hours. He could see the resemblance between the war hero and his best friend now. All the history books were conflicted about Steve’s childhood, but they all agreed how he died.

During the night, when Bucky was at war, by Steve’s side, he would plead with his friend to be safe.

***

When Steve told Bucky the date he knew that this was it. Steve was going to die today.

“I have to go,” Steve said. “I’ve got to do my bit.”

Steve went into the Hyrda facility.

He didn’t come back out.

***

The dreams stopped after that night. 

***

Six weeks later Bucky was at the Captain America exhibit. Pictures and stories all around him of the man he’d loved since he was a kid. 

There was a marble statue. Stark white and cold but made in beautiful detail.

Bucky could practically count the eyelashes. 

Found in 1951, the figure depicted is clearly the late hero, Captain America, but it was found in a known Hydra base. This statue has been a mystery to historians as none have been able to come up with a clear reason as to why Hydra would have had a statue of this Allied hero. The sculptor of this piece has never been identified.

The exhibit was quiet, and the guard had just gone out of view. Bucky stepped over the rope around the statue and reached out his hand. His fingertips met smooth stone, cold and unyielding.

He stepped in close and lent his head against Steve’s. Tears ran down his cheeks as he closed his eyes, squeezing them tight. 

“Goodbye Steve,” he whispered. “I will always love you.”

He stayed there for several long stuttery breaths, pretending with all he had that this was really Steve. 

Then he pressed his lips to Steve’s, chaste and full of longing. 

The stone warmed quickly beneath his lips, then Steve’s mouth parted in a gasp.

Bucky jerked backwards, nearly stumbling over, but Steve’s hands slid around his back to steady him and draw them close together. 

“Bucky?” Steve asked, his eyes full of wonder.

“Steve?” Bucky brought his hand up to touch Steve’s face. “How?”

“Right now, I really don’t care,” Steve replied. “I can touch you.”

“Yeah,” Bucky said smiling. 

***

Five minutes later when the museum staff turned up in a panic Bucky had Steve pinned to a wall and their lips hadn’t left each other’s. 

**Author's Note:**

> Based on this artwork by FrostbiteBakery: http://frostbitebakery.tumblr.com/post/177171478191/missed-connections-my-art-inspired-by-a-panel
> 
> Image Description:  
> Comic.  
> First panel: Bucky, in a hoodie with two flesh arms, is standing in front of a statue of Steve. Bucky is leaning his forehead against the statue.  
> Second panel: Close up of their faces, Bucky has tears on his cheeks.  
> Third panel: Close up of eyes, Bucky's are scrunched.  
> Fourth panel: Close up of their lips, Bucky's are closer to Steve's than they were in the first panel.


End file.
